Superten put a smile back on trainer Sonny Yeoh’s face when he went all the way to claim the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1200m on Sunday.
The Malaysian trainer has not been a regular visitor to the winner’s circle this year, and with only one runner under his name at Sunday’s meeting, he thought it would be another drab day in the office.
But Superten (Mohd Firdaus), a maiden who had shown some glimpses of potential at his earlier runs, was in a galloping mood and proved hard to peg back after controlling the race from the start.
Favourite Exciting Prospect (Glen Boss) did give Yeoh a moment of doubt when he came with a late run on the outside, especially as Superten looked a little distracted being all alone upfront, but it proved insufficient to topple the leader.
Superten, a four-year-old entire by Testa Rossa, posted a 1 ½-length win from Exciting Prospect with Destiny Knight (Amirul Ismadi) another head away in third for the Singapore Gold Cup winner Recast gelding’s best performance to-date by far. The winning time was 1min 11.86secs for the 1200m on the Short Course.
Yeoh was as usual not doing cartwheels at the Champagne Room, but was visibly happy his only runner of the day had finally given him a win since Himalaya Dragon on July 24.
“Not bad eh? One runner, one win,” said Yeoh.
“This horse showed promise early, but then he went off the boil. I’m not really sure why, but it could be his undercarriage is too big.”
Yeoh was cheekily referring to the extra equipment entires have between the legs, but said that barrier No 1 and a well-judged ride by Firdaus were the main winning factors on the day.
“He drew one and was quick out of the gates. Firdaus rated him well, though the horse looked a bit around in the straight,” he said.
“But once Firdaus got his mind back on the job, he just kept going for a pretty strong win.”
